This month's inspiration was provided by Poetry Sister Laura Purdie Salas. She says "These are two parts of a 7-part ceiling fresco at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis. I spoke at a children's literature conference there a couple of weeks ago and loved huge, colorful ceiling in Terrence Murphy Hall. The art is by Mark Balma (markbalma.com) and is called The Seven Virtues (it's a Catholic university). I loved the colors, the surrealness of the images, and the fairy tale oddness of them."
Yes, me too, Laura! I was also curious about frescos, so I read up on their construction at the University of St. Thomas website. Then I took a gander at the seven sins, and the seven virtues---especially, Temperance, which is the subject of this fresco, and in the end...
...my eyes were caught by those realistic birds in the corners of each fresco. WTH?
Turns out all the birds depicted in the seven frescos are species who take sustenance from the Mississippi River.
Analysis (expositors of sacred writ to the ignorant*)
Drs. Sora and Swallow
don’t know what to make of it
Neither does Herring Gull
called in to consult
nor Golden Plover
(a solid second opinion)
The birds need the river
to flow wrathfully
slicing the land before snaking,
sloth-like into silty deltas
They envy those who consume
art; not shad or lice
They lust for full communion,
not half-bodies, imploring
They cannot eat stones
glutton-fed paint by boar’s hair brushes
What of greed? they pick
at the edges. What of pride?
Every stroke is permanent
What is temperate about that?
---Sara Lewis Holmes (all rights reserved)
*By the way, the title comes from the article on the University site, which explains that ancient fresco makers took their art very seriously, as they were the “expositors of sacred writ to the ignorant, who know not how to read.”
To see what my Poetry Sisters made of this fresco (or the other choice, a fresco about Hope), follow these links:
Liz
Laura
Tanita
Andi
Kelly
Tricia
Poetry Friday is hosted today by Amy at The Poetry Farm.
